Third White House crasher attended Manmohan dinner

Washington: A series of pictures posted online reveal that the alleged third White House crasher, Carlos Allen, did attend President Barack Obama`s state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The photos published Friday by Politico newspaper show Allen seated at a dinner table in the tented dining room on the White House South Lawn at the Nov 24 event.

The pictures appear to confirm Allen`s attorney`s statement that the DC party promoter attended the dinner and stayed for the entertainment portion of the evening.

In the pictures, Allen is seated at a table with several guests: ABC`s Robin Roberts; US Ambassador to Belize, Vinai Thummalapally, and his wife Barbara; State Bank of India CEO Om Prakash Bhatt; and Eboo Patel of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Politico said it discovered the pictures Wednesday on Picasa, Google`s picture-hosting site, within an album apparently posted by Barbara Thummalapally.

The album titled "White House State Dinner 11/24/09" contains 69 photos from the event, three of which include Allen.

Many of the place settings at the dinner came with place cards that included the names of the guests assigned that seat. Politico said photos reviewed by it do not show a place card with Allen`s name on it.

Allen`s lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, wrote in an email to Politico Thursday that "White House personnel sat him at the table after he requested his seat-name tags/settings is irrelevant."

The White House has said that he was not invited to the event, and he was not cleared to enter the executive mansion in the WAVES security system.

Still, Bolden says his client was invited to the event - and has an invitation to prove it. He declined to produce that invitation.

Another picture in the album appears to have been taken before the event outside the Willard Hotel, where Allen allegedly met up with members of the Indian delegation.

The image shows several black SUVs and white shuttle vans parked behind the hotel with a caption that reads: "Caught the bus that was carrying the Indian Business CEO`s Delegation and a few press members. Got a police and motorcycle escort right up to the White House Door. Were greeted outside and inside the WH by uniformed armed forces people. VP Joe Biden and his wife greeted us and shook hands in the rotunda room on our way to the East Room."

It remains unclear how Allen got into the van carrying the members of the Indian delegation onto the White House grounds.

The Indian Embassy has said it did not facilitate the entry of a third gatecrasher after the Secret Service claimed that the individual sneaked in by boarding an Indian delegation bus.